The rising number of health issues and diseases, caused due to the consumption of toxic food items, is one of the major factors boosting the demand for polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF)-based membranes across the world. The PVDF-based membranes have the ability to filter out the toxic materials present in the food and beverage items and are thus, extensively used for the removal of spoilage organisms and contaminants from food items and beverages. In addition to this, these membranes are also used in beer brewing.

The increasing need for efficient filtration technologies and methods, especially from the water treatment plants and the chemical and biopharmaceutical industries are the other major factors pushing the demand for PVDF-based membranes throughout the world.

There are mainly two types of PVDF membranes used across the globe — hydrophobic and hydrophilic membranes. Of these, the hydrophilic PVDF membranes recorded higher sales in 2017. This is primarily attributed to the numerous useful characteristics of the hydrophilic membranes such as their ability to provide high flow rates and throughputs for solvent-based and mobile-phase chromatographic applications and serve the filtration requirements of various biopharmaceutical applications. The hydrophobic PVDF membranes are expected to register faster growth in demand in the coming years, owing to their high ultraviolet (UV) and chemical resistance and low extractability, high flow rate, autoclaved and gamma sterilization, and chemical compatibility.

The biggest rage currently being witnessed in the PVDF membrane market is the increasing number of product launches, mergers, acquisitions, and collaborations being done by the major PVDF membrane producing companies all around the world, in order to expand their operations and cater to the ballooning filtration requirements of the wastewater treatment industries. For instance, Arkema announced in October 2017 that it would increase the PVDF Kynar production capacity of its plants in China by 25% in order to meet the escalating demand for the material from the water treatment applications.

Across the world, Asia-Pacific (APAC) is expected to observe the fastest growth in the usage of PVDF membranes during the forecast period. This is mainly credited to the mushrooming demand for membrane separation technologies from the water treatment plants in the region. The increasing water scarcity in the APAC region is massively boosting the demand for reusable water, which is in turn, propelling the demand for efficient membrane processes. In addition to this, the rapid technological advancements in the life sciences and biopharmaceutical areas are expected to further boost the adoption of PVDF membranes in the region in future.

Therefore, it can be said with full confidence that the demand for PVDF membranes will shoot-up across the world in the coming years, due to the increasing requirement of efficient filtration techniques and processes in several industries.